Activa remote locking no longer working

[petef]

After 21 years working fine, the remote locking on my Activa has suddenly packed up. The cental locking still works fine on the key but the remote just stopped doing anything 2 days ago. And - yes I did replace the batteries - no change. I have taken the printed circuit board out of the remote control - it is the simplest type with just one plip switch. All appears ok - no damage I can see and the switch itself seems fine on a multi-tester. I have also had a quick look at the receiver unit in the roof - no wires adrift there. Anybody any ideas? Is there a component which is known to fail? And is there any chance of getting it fixed?

Don't like it when things don't work, mumble, mumble.

[Hell Razor5543]

A quick test (assuming the plip is an IR unit) is to switch on the camera in a smart phone, and then aim the plip at the camera (while watching the camera screen). If it is working you will see pinkish light from the LED.

[petef]

Thanks for the tip James. Plip is an IR unit so tried it out together with Sky and tv remotes on my phone and tablet cameras. Sky and tv remotes both worked with a clear visible light. Nothing from the plip though. So the electronics have given up. Where do I go from here? Does anyone repair them? Or is another possibility to try to get a remote from a scrapper together with the roof receiver ?

[Hell Razor5543]

I would inspect the board with a magnifying glass, to look at the solder joints. A cracked or dry join will stop the plip from working.

[petef]

Have done this, all seems ok - but not a great magnifying glass, will get a better one.

[myglaren]

Have done this, all seems ok - but not a great magnifying glass, will get a better one.

Take a photo and blow it up on your computer screen.

[xantia_v6]

The good news is that Xantia Mk1 plips can be moved from one car to another, so if you can find a used one with the right number of buttons, you car can easily be trained to recognise it. I presume (having a one button plip) that this is not a UK car.

[petef]

No - It's a poverty spec Spanish registered (originally) Activa, now on French plates. No faux wooden trim and definitely no steering wheel radio controls as there was no radio fitted as standard. Mind you it does have aircon - a necessity on the Costa del Sol.....

[petef]

Ok. I have had a long hard magnified look at the remote PCB and can't see anything wrong with it. Changing tack slightly - given that you had to be standing next to the car anyway for the IR remote to work, I was wondering if anyone had experience of fitting one of the multitude of 'Universal remote cental locking kits' available on ebay for about a tenner, to a Xantia series 1? These are RF and allow a much greater range. The only information I can find online is on the Aussiefrogs site where there is a chapter and verse account of fitting an Aussie kit to a series 1, including the all important wiring info between the new receiver and the main control unit. An equivalent kit on UK ebay would appear to be here - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Car ... 1438.l2649. But I don't need the actuators and this kit is £16.89. If I knew how to wire it, one of the £10 kits - which are just remotes and receiver plus a bundle of wires would surely do the job. Anyone already done this?.......................I'm going to have a go anyway, but it would be nice to know

[Stickyfinger]

Are they not a very easy way of letting anybody open the car ?....or are they more secure than the OEM type ?

[petef]

Good point. All down to RF frequencies I guess, but there's nothing in the car worth pinching. And the car itself still has the dreaded keypad, which foils me a lot of the time......

[petef]

Ok, so I have now fitted the kit which arrived this morning. Took about an hour, and I now have remote controlled central locking with a range of at least 30metres - couldn't be bothered to walk any further away from the car to test it further. Cost me €10.99 here in France, but there are a multitude on ebay and Amazon at a similar price. Kit includes the receiver, wiring and two remotes. The only issue is how to wire the receiver in place of the original in the roof recess. The 5 leads to the old receiver are identified with a labelled photo in this thread - http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/citro% ... antia.html - you only use four of them. And follow the instructions for installing a 'positive trigger' with the new receiver.
If anyone is remotely interested - pun intended - I can supply further details.
Should have done this a long time ago - the old infra red system, when it worked, meant you had to stand right next to the car to open the doors and you might just as well put the key in the lock.....................

[elma]

Did you buy the kit you previously posted a link to?
I'm wondering can you deadlock the car with this kit and does it activate/deactivate the alarm?
I'm quite interested as I've recently run my only working key down with a digger.
For me it would have to deadlock the car and be able to control the alarm otherwise my alarm will still go off randomly and the dog will escape (he's smart).
I'd actually like to be able to separate the key from the remote as I'm the sort of person that thinks a key belongs in the ignition but still likes to lock the car.

[petef]

No, I bought a simpler kit as there was nothing wrong with the central locking on my car, apart from the remote not working. So I didn't need the door actuators. The kit I bought in France was this one - https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00B7X ... UTF8&psc=1 , but there are plenty similar on UK ebay and Amazon. All it does is replace the original IR remote actuation with a more effective RF system, so whatever else you have on your car - alarm, deadlocks etc should remain the same as far as I know.
You do have the ability to do other stuff like operate flashers when you lock/unlock the car with the new kit but, hey, who needs that complication?

[elma]

Thanks Pete, that's really handy. If an original plip doesn't show up in the next week or so I'll be installing a similar kit to my Xantia.

I need to take out the headliner for restoration so the timings perfect. My systems working fine too, it's just I crushed the PCB when I ran the key over.